PT WTDC06 - Prague

The first meeting of the project team (PT) that under CEPT will prepare Europe?s intervention at the next World Telecommunications Development Conference (WTDC06) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) was held in Prague on 5 April.

In particular, bearing in mind that the conference?s regional prep meeting for Europe would be held on 18-20 April, this gathering basically focused on finalising Europe?s intervention in that regional meeting.

In this regard, decisions on various matters were made and debated, namely Resolution 21 (co-ordination and collaboration with regional organisation), about which a decision was made to indicate a single contact point between the Telecommunications Development Bureau (BDT) and CEPT, which will be the head of the ITU group.

Regarding Resolution 32 (international co-operation), a decision was made not to take any steps for the time being. As for resolutions 4 and 24 on reorganisation of the Study Groups (SG) and the authorisation for the Telecommunications Development Sector Advisory Group (TDAG) to act between conferences, a decision was also made that for the time being it would be preferable not to put forward any proposal at the regional meeting, but rather to await the progress of a group recently set up to deal with the SG issue; it was recognised that WTDC06 will have to resolve some inconsistencies between these resolutions and the ITU Constitution and Convention, as modified at the last Plenipotentiary Conference (PP02).

With respect to preparations for the World Summit on the Information Society, ITU involvement, particularly its sector D, is expected to be a highlight of the next WTDC. However, as there are differing opinions regarding the level of Development Sector (ITU-D) involvement in WSIS, no agreement has yet been made on a CEPT position for this matter, so there will be no contributions on same at the regional meeting.

Regarding analysis of proposals for the ITU-D Operational Plan, it was agreed that duplication of other organisations? work and that eventually undertaken by CEPT (there are no CEPT proposals at present) should be avoided. For this reason this PT?s chair was charged with monitoring proposals eventually put forward on this item.

On Resolution 33 (Support for the Republic of Yugoslavia), the information which the BDT should report to the regional meeting about this action?s developments is awaited. CEPT should thus settle on a position and react when it is informed of those developments.

On Resolution 44 (gender-related issues), as there is a German proposal that some administrations disagree with ? they hold that the unit in charge of these topics within the ITU should not exist at Sector D level, but rather at general secretariat level, being a horizontal question for all sectors ? it was decided that said proposal would be presented at the regional meeting only on behalf of Germany. 

Regarding preparations for WTDC06, to be held in March 2006, the conference topics that should be covered by European common proposals (ECP) were defined.

Thus, and with respect to the topics from the previous WTDC conference, issues such as the following will be subject to ECPs: convergence and regulation; specific needs of the European Region developing countries; authorisation for TDAG to act between WTDCs; the availability of internet access, including ITU actions vis-à-vis the digital divide; the involvement of ITU regional offices in preparing the organisation?s conferences, and the implementation and testing of the Project Management Groups that will replace the current SGs.

New topics, namely the working methods of the SGs and TDAG, the number and scope of the BDT programmes, the ITU?s role as an agency of the United Nations system and the efficient use and role of the ITU?s regional presence should likewise be subject to ECP.

The group should continue its work by electronic means; the next physical meeting of this PT should thus only take place in Bern on 18-19 October.